You choose.

There are so many things in life that we are told that we can and cannot do.

Every day there is a little voice in our heads that tells us whether or not we are “being good”. There has always been someone there to tell us what is right and what is wrong. When did we become robots? When did we start to allow someone else to dictate our lives?

From the moment we are born, we have things that are decided for us. Our name. Our race. Our gender. From that moment on, we are taught. Taught how to speak, how to eat, how to interact with others, what is right, what is wrong, what is good, and what is bad. And we spend the rest of our lives defending those things.

The understanding of choice is presented to us at a relatively young age. We eventually choose what foods we do or not like. What music we do or do not like. What genre of movies we do or do not like. But it seems to me the one choice we can never fully commit to, that we really should be focusing our energy on, is the choice of happiness. The choice of freedom. The choice that we can make to stop living according to someone else’s definition of life.

“Don’t swim right after eating? What if you fall out of the boat mid-bite? Well, I think you should try!”
— Dan Cummins

Far too often we fall victim to the ideals of other people. I don’t know about you but I’m tired of feeling less than ideal just because I don’t buy name brand clothes or drive a fancy car. I shop at Target and my car is a literal piece of shit. So, why do I still feel like it’s not enough? That somehow I’m missing out on eternal happiness because my Lamborghini is in the figurative shop until the second Tuesday of next week?

Because I bought into it. I bought into the force fed, highly marketed and targeted, bullshit American dream.

I cannot tell you how much my life changed when I stopped living on everyone else’s terms and started living on mine.

Happiness is a destination. I wake up, every. single. day. and I CHOOSE to be happy. I CHOOSE to decide how to start my morning. I don’t get on Facebook and drag myself down with the negativity. I don’t immediately check my emails and get pissed off at a client who just doesn’t get it. If I get off track during the day, I take 5 minutes and realign myself with my destination.

How? Oh, it’s easy! First, shut the fuck up. Stop begging yourself to just be like her or act like him. Stop comparing. Stop being jealous. SHUT THE FUCK UP. Second, close your eyes and breathe. Count to ten. Visualize a literal ball of happiness welling up in your soul. If you’re not smiling when you get to 10, do it again. Count to 20. 50. 2758. I do not care what number you count to until you get there. Smile, say thank you, and approach the rest of your day with that same mindset. If you fall off the wagon onto negativity and “fuck it” – do it again.